Maya Angelou was a well-respected poet, novelist, author, civil activist and educator. Her contributions to African-American literature are immense and her materials have gone on to inspire and inform many. Here are some interesting facts about her and her life:
1. Maya Angelou was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She spent the first three years of her life in rural Arkansas before her parents divorced and her mother moved them back to St. Louis. Her mother then moved them to San Francisco, California, where Angelou spent her formative years.
2. Angelou was an accomplished singer and dancer as well as an author, poet and civil activist. She sang and danced in nightclubs and cabarets, performing with singers such as Albertina Walker and Cab Calloway.
3. She wrote seven autobiographies, all of which are highly acclaimed. Her works include “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” “Gather Together in My Name,” and “All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes.”
4. In 1993, Angelou became the first African-American woman to recite a poem at a presidential inauguration. Her recitation of “On the Pulse of Morning” was for the inauguration of Bill Clinton.
5. Maya Angelou was a frequent guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show and contributed a column to O Magazine for several years. She wrote her column “To My Sister,” which addressed issues of aging and wisdom.
6. Angelou also received numerous awards and honors during her lifetime, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination, a Langston Hughes Medal, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Grammy Award, and a handful of Honorary Doctorates.
7. Angelou was a tireless campaigner for civil rights, writing extensively on racial and political issues. In 1961, she was labeled a “dissident” by the FBI due to her involvement with civil rights movements.
Influence on Literature
Maya Angelou’s influence on literature is immense. Her autobiographies and works of poetry are incredibly important and her writing style, which is rooted in the African American vernacular, has made her works familiar to many. Her work has often been compared to that of modernist writer James Joyce and her novels and poetry have attained an international status due to the universality of her themes.
Angelou’s autobiographies, which she started with the publication of “I Know why the Caged Bird Sings”, have been revolutionary in their depiction of the African American experience and they are often credited with helping to bring the experience of black people to the attention of wider audiences. Additionally, her poetry often explores themes such as identity and inequality, making it relatable to many people regardless of race.
Angelou’s writing has become an important part of the African American canon and she has inspired generations of writers with her style and content. Her works, particularly those in autobiographical form, have changed the way in which the experiences of African Americans are perceived by many readers and her writings have gone on to become an important part of the literary landscape.
Moreover, her novels, short stories and poems have garnered much critical acclaim and recognition, including a National Book Award for “I Know why the Caged Bird Sings”, and her works have regularly featured on American school and college literature syllabuses.
Civil Activism
Maya Angelou’s tireless campaigning for civil rights referred to in point 7 of the opening table. With the oppressive racism of the Jim Crow laws in the United States, Maya Angelou used her own experiences and emotions in her writings to stand up and fight against the injustice that African Americans faced in the United States in the face of domestic terrorism and political oppression.
Angelou often wrote about her fight against racism and inequality, such as in “Caged Bird”, her autobiographical telling of her experiences as a child in the segregated South, and in her works such as “A Brave and Startling Truth”, where she speaks of the need for the world to unite to fight oppression.
Additionally, Angelou became an internationally recognized civil rights activist, traveling to Ghana to help its citizens fight oppression, organizing voter registration drives in the United States, and working as northern coordinator for Martin Luther King Jr’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
In her later life, Angelou became an ambassador for many organizations, including the UN and the NAACP, and continued her fight for civil rights until her death. In the many speeches and interviews she gave, she spoke of the need to stand up for justice and equality for all and for people to work together for a better world.
Tributes and Achievements
Maya Angelou’s achievements and her contributions to literature, activism and civil rights have been appropriately recognized by numerous organizations and organizations. Throughout her lifetime, Angelou received a number of awards and honors, such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Pulitzer Prize nomination, while in 2014, the US Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor and in 2018, the US Mint released a quarter with her image and words.
Moreover, despite her relatively small body of work, her influence is immense and she has been dubbed “the first lady of literature” and “America’s national poet” due to her extensive influence on literature and her promotion of civil rights. Additionally, universities and colleges across the United States offer courses in her works, and her name is used to denote a number of scholarships, awards and programs geared towards the promotion of civil rights and social justice.
Legacy
Maya Angelou left behind a legacy of books, essays, poems and speeches that are still influencing and inspiring many today. Her works and her life story have become an integral part of the African American canon and continue to be the cornerstone for others’ thoughts on civil rights and racial issues.
Despite her relatively small body of work, her influence on literature is monumental and her works have become must-reads for many people, from policymakers and politicians to students and activists. Her writings, particularly her autobiographies, are often studied in schools across the United States and her works are constantly being adapted and reinterpreted by writers and poets across the world.
Maya Angelou has also left an imprint on popular culture, with her works being sampled by numerous musicians and her presence on social media having grown during her latter years. She was a respected advocate for civil rights, one that is still remembered to this day, and the work she did and the work she inspired will last for many, many years to come.
Later Life and Death
Maya Angelou was a tireless campaigner for civil rights and was still traveling and speaking out until her death in 2014. She continued to work with social justice organizations and with the United Nations, while continuing to write and publish works up until her death.
In 2011, Angelou released her only cookbook, “Hallelujah! The Welcome Table”, and the same year she made a special appearance in the movie, “For Colored Girls”. In 2013, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom and she made her last public appearance in that year when she attended a dinner for the National Book Awards.
On the morning of May 28, 2014, Angelou passed away in her Winston-Salem home, surrounded by family and friends. She left behind an incredible legacy of works and a continued fight for social justice. Her death was mourned around the world and she was remembered fondly by those that knew her and by the countless numbers of lives that she touched.
